Thursday, October 11, 2012

Last month we got to celebrate my not-so-baby baby's birthday. She is now 6. I keep telling her she can't have anymore birthdays because she has to stay my little girl forever! She just laughs and says she has to grow up to have babies. Ha! I love her.

So, she has been asking for doll clothes for her baby doll. Her doll happens to be a cabbage patch kid from my days- 20 some years ago. And, to my utter disbelievement they just don't make them like that anymore (yes, sense the sarcasm as this is a frequent phrase said in our house as newer things constantly crumble apart before our very eyes. It wouldn't have anything to do with the 3 young and rambunctious children we have would it?). Anyway, there are no clothes for this doll who has one dress she wears for bed, to work outside with dad (messy, messy), to cook, to clean, take care of the kids, and to go to school in. This poor dress never has time to be cleaned by my little mother in training.

Still in complete shock at the lack of clothes to fit the best cabbage patch doll I ever played with and determined to make something work, I hit the newborn clothing section and picked up one of those newborn packs that comes with pants and a onesie.

Knowing this needed to be done soon-like the next day, I sat in front of the sewing machine, and my gaze went from the machine to the clothes to the doll and back again. Over and over and over until I just did it. What did I do you ask, well...

See, the poor thing has no legs with the newborn clothes. This just wouldn't do.

Look at all that leg that was hiding!

While the top was on the doll, I cut a notch on each side a little lower than where I wanted the shirt to fall on the doll.

Then I took it off and snip, snip, snip.

I sewed up the bottom with a zig-zag stitch.

On to the bottoms: again, way to big! I simply cut off the legs at the length I wanted.

See how much extra crotchage we've got going on? I pinned around where I wanted the new crotch of the pants to be, sewed it up, and...

Cut off the excess. I could have sewn a hem on the bottom of the pant legs, but with the type of fabric it was it worked without it.

Here is the final shirt and pants set. Look at that smile! She's so happy.

I didn't want to leave the bottom of the shirt to go to waste, so I made some shorts out of them.

This was just too wide on that tiny doll.

I pinned the excess on both sides and sewed it up. I wanted it just a little snug so they wouldn't fall off.

I added an elestic waist band. I had to google search a video for this. But found one that was really fast and simple.

And, here they are.

Now, I'm not an expert seamstress, nor would I consider myself a regular seamstress; but, it worked for me, and as my daughter opened the gifts, she was so excited!

A month later, as I look at that doll sitting in the shopping cart waiting to go shopping, in our basement store by our little mother-in-training, I am so glad that I made clothes for the doll that apparently prefers to be naked most of the time!